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If you want to save some grief for the future and you use Link, you can use these little rules I use when I decide if I want to use a company calling for freight.
For the most part, I have decided to block or avoid using any company that:
(a) has a numbered company only
(b) has a wacky or really stupid name, or overly exotic - trust me on this, they don't have what it takes when you dig down to check. If I can't pronounce it or I'm going to sound stupid saying that "Kow Transport" is coming, I'm now giving the freight to you. Hate to say it, I have yet to see any company with a strange name actually be any good or even pass the initial screening before I even talk about the freight with them.
(c) calls up and claims they are in whatever city the freight is in, but you did not match with them at all
(d) ANY company that comes back with a CONDITIONAL CVOR safety rating - there is an uncanny correlation between crappy service and service failures with the CVOR rating by using the FREE SERVICES part of :
https://www.cvor.rus.mto.gov.on.ca/scripts/Products.asp
If the company name they offer does not come up (and they won't) then ask for the CVOR # (and some will only want to give you the MC # - insist on the CVOR # and you can find it under the "authorities" tab of any carrier in the Link member list.
(e) ANY company with a CONDITIONAL USDOT rating (www.safersys.org)
(f) and if they pass all those checks BUT...the authorities all show multiple addresses all over the place - it's a BIG RED FLAG!
(g) says they are located in the Toronto area (for example) but wants you to contact the dispatcher at a 519 # (Turbo Logistics did this)
(h) Ask the dispatcher how many trucks they have - if they tell you any number that sounds outlandish and you've never heard of them, forget it...go on www.safersys.org while they're on the line, punch in the company name or MC # and if anything other than what they say comes up, you can be sure they will misrepresent other stuff about where trucks are, etc.
(i) finally - if you still have a gut feeling that the company you want to give freight to is not legitimate - TRUST YOUR GUT!!!
Another thing I can offer as far as tips as to whether or not you are going to either have a problem with paying a carrier is where in the conversation the topic of rate comes up.
I always find that our new Canadian friends will always call and inquire about a "load" (even if it's LTL, they call it a load for some reason) in this order and then use these tactics:
1. "Hello how are you"
2. "You have a load from (insert name) to (insert name)"
3. "How much does it pay?"
They generally don't care what it is or if it needs special credentials. If you really want to weed out the losers, ask for only carriers that have what real carriers will have and itinerant carriers will have trouble getting, like a driver with a FAST card, C-TPAT and so on. It's not discriminatory to expect a carrier to have proper credentials and, quite frankly, you're screening out the shit. I find that most carriers lie about how many trucks they have and if they lie about that (you can check on the USDOT) then guaranteed they will lie about where your freight is when you check.
The next tactic they will use is automatically say, even when you have offered a good rate, "Oh, that's not enough." It is a tactic. Say no. Do not negotiate because the next number you will hear will be stupid. I find if the same carrier that does that the first time and keeps calling back repeatedly tells me they want the freight - and I tell them I will drop the rate by $50 each time they call back asking about it. It's funny how that stops the b.s..
If rate comes up in the first few sentences of a call about your freight, the odds are good that they're not interested in anything else you have to say and you'll have a service failure probably. Most of those guys tend to factor their invoices, too. They want a higher rate because they lose on the factor.
For the most part, I have decided to block or avoid using any company that:
(a) has a numbered company only
(b) has a wacky or really stupid name, or overly exotic - trust me on this, they don't have what it takes when you dig down to check. If I can't pronounce it or I'm going to sound stupid saying that "Kow Transport" is coming, I'm now giving the freight to you. Hate to say it, I have yet to see any company with a strange name actually be any good or even pass the initial screening before I even talk about the freight with them.
(c) calls up and claims they are in whatever city the freight is in, but you did not match with them at all
(d) ANY company that comes back with a CONDITIONAL CVOR safety rating - there is an uncanny correlation between crappy service and service failures with the CVOR rating by using the FREE SERVICES part of :
https://www.cvor.rus.mto.gov.on.ca/scripts/Products.asp
If the company name they offer does not come up (and they won't) then ask for the CVOR # (and some will only want to give you the MC # - insist on the CVOR # and you can find it under the "authorities" tab of any carrier in the Link member list.
(e) ANY company with a CONDITIONAL USDOT rating (www.safersys.org)
(f) and if they pass all those checks BUT...the authorities all show multiple addresses all over the place - it's a BIG RED FLAG!
(g) says they are located in the Toronto area (for example) but wants you to contact the dispatcher at a 519 # (Turbo Logistics did this)
(h) Ask the dispatcher how many trucks they have - if they tell you any number that sounds outlandish and you've never heard of them, forget it...go on www.safersys.org while they're on the line, punch in the company name or MC # and if anything other than what they say comes up, you can be sure they will misrepresent other stuff about where trucks are, etc.
(i) finally - if you still have a gut feeling that the company you want to give freight to is not legitimate - TRUST YOUR GUT!!!
Another thing I can offer as far as tips as to whether or not you are going to either have a problem with paying a carrier is where in the conversation the topic of rate comes up.
I always find that our new Canadian friends will always call and inquire about a "load" (even if it's LTL, they call it a load for some reason) in this order and then use these tactics:
1. "Hello how are you"
2. "You have a load from (insert name) to (insert name)"
3. "How much does it pay?"
They generally don't care what it is or if it needs special credentials. If you really want to weed out the losers, ask for only carriers that have what real carriers will have and itinerant carriers will have trouble getting, like a driver with a FAST card, C-TPAT and so on. It's not discriminatory to expect a carrier to have proper credentials and, quite frankly, you're screening out the shit. I find that most carriers lie about how many trucks they have and if they lie about that (you can check on the USDOT) then guaranteed they will lie about where your freight is when you check.
The next tactic they will use is automatically say, even when you have offered a good rate, "Oh, that's not enough." It is a tactic. Say no. Do not negotiate because the next number you will hear will be stupid. I find if the same carrier that does that the first time and keeps calling back repeatedly tells me they want the freight - and I tell them I will drop the rate by $50 each time they call back asking about it. It's funny how that stops the b.s..
If rate comes up in the first few sentences of a call about your freight, the odds are good that they're not interested in anything else you have to say and you'll have a service failure probably. Most of those guys tend to factor their invoices, too. They want a higher rate because they lose on the factor.
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